This is War
by HatakeKaede-san
Summary: Seven snippets of the year that changed the wizarding world in the eyes of one Dudley Dursley. ONESHOT.


**This is War**

**1. War**

"What the ruddy hell are we waiting for!" shouted Vernon Dursley, infuriated.

"To hear news about your nephew," answered Dedalus Diggle calmly, but a little coldly.

"Who cares about that BOY! You´re supposed to get my family into safety…"

Dudley had the sudden feeling that Diggle would have to restrain Hestia by force to keep her from harming the Dursleys.

"I´ve had enough, " she mumbled and she pointed her wand at Vernon.

"Keep that ruddy thing….!" He started, but suddenly there was no noise coming from his mouth as the spell hit him. He raised both his fists into the air and waved them threateningly at the witch.

"Hestia, dear, maybe you shouldn´t have…," started Dedalus, but she hushed him.

"Our friends are out there right now, risking their necks…I´m worried enough without this ignorant whale annoying me."

Petunia opened her mouth as if to defend her husband, but closed it quickly when she got a glimpse of the wand still in Hestia´s hand.

Finally the silver weasel had found them at the meadow, where they were to drop their car before going wherever it was they were going.

"_Harry´s safe. Mad Eye´s dead. Everyone else is alive. Do not reply."_

Dudley saw both Hestia´s and Dedalus´ eyes watering.

"Mad-Eye," Hestia whispered. "But how? I mean how could _he_ have died?"

Dedalus sighed and replied quietly: "I guess we really are at war now."

* * *

><p><strong>2. Cowardice<strong>

Dudley was surprised to find out they had a guest in the safe house that his family was hiding in. Sure, the silver animal like creatures would bring them news occasionally. Gloom news at that, news about death and despair. Like just last week when a lynx appeared telling them in a deep voice that the Ministry had fallen. But actual guests, that was a completely different thing. Therefore when he heard two female voices coming from the kitchen, he decided not to go in immediately, but to listen at first.

He heard the unknown female voice whisper: "I´m sorry, I know you have enogh to worry about. But I didn´t know where to go...I mean you know what it was like last year. And then Mad-Eye dying," she sniffled. "And now Remus...," her voice broke.

"What about Remus?" Hestia asked slowly.

"He took off, that bloody coward just took off...," the other woman scowled.

"But why would he...I mean now?" Hestia asked concerned. "Unless you´re...," Dudley heard a realization in her voice.

"Oh, you´re...and he thinks...oh that ruddy coward, I´m gonna kill him, " Hestia snapped.

Dudley heard no more as his mother´s voice called him to her room.

A few days later they had an another visitor, a man with sandy brown hair, flecked with grey, his face lined and scarred. Dudley only got a little glipmse of him and his hunted face as he left to his room as soon as he could, away from the wizards. But even upstairs he could still hear Hestia´s annoyed voice and the man´s tries to calm her down.

* * *

><p><strong>3. Courage<strong>

Dudley could not take being trapped in his small room any longer. He decided that if his parents didn´t want to leave their room and get any closer than they had to the wizards, fine by them. But he was bored and he was craving some kind of human contact. When he walked into the small living room he heard the hoarse voice of the man, who had visited recently, coming from a small ancient radio and Dedalus and Hestia both intently listening.

"_As I already said, Harry Potter is well and alive. Better than that he´s still fighting. We do not know what exactly he´s doing or his exact location, but we know that his work is key to defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. So if you come across Harry, we urge you to help him in any way you can."_

"_That´s great news indeed, Romulus…,"_

Said a different voice that Dudley had never heard before as Hestia looked to Dedalus and they both smiled.

"_And now, my dear listeners, let´s hear how the Pals of Potter are doing. Any news on this front, Romulus?"_

"_Yes, indeed. I have it on good authority that there still is resistance left even at Hogwarts. Dumbledore´s Army, led by three of Harry´s close friends Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood continues to organize insurgency at the school. May your thoughts be with these children and may their deeds be a good example for you as well. All is not lost yet, there is hope still."_

"_Well, put, Romulus, my friend…" _commented the other voice, but before he could hear anymore, there was a bunch of noises and shouting coming from the radio and the signal died. Dudley studied the anxious faces of the witch and wizard in the room, but their worry quickly disappeared when the signal came back on.

"_We apologize for the inconvenience, we´ve had some trouble….but Potterwatch is now back with some very important news from Royal. Royal, the word is yours."_

This deep voice was well known to Dudley, even though he had heard it live only once. It was Kingsley Shackelbolt, the guy who was protecting the prime minister and who came to tell the Dursleys that they had to go into hiding alongside the redheaded man.

"_I apologize for being late for the first ever show, but I´ve just been ambushed by about a dozen of Death Eaters….managed to stun a few, might´ve killed one or two…"_

"_Ruddy Death Eaters….but they had no idea whom they were dealing with, did they, Royal?"_

But Kingsley seemed to have waved away the boy´s question and continued seriously: _"The point is- how were they able to find me? And not just me, but a number of members of the Order. It´s simple, really. His name is a taboo. I urge you no matter how much courage you have, do not use his name!"_

"_Thank you, Royal! I repeat do not use Moldywort´s name! And that´s all for the first ever edition of Potterwatch. Don´t forget to tune in next week for all the news about our favorite hero and his friends, we have a special surprise guest in store for you. Password´s Emmeline. And do not despair too much, I´m sure Potter will thwart Moldywort´s pants…umm, I mean plans very soon!" _

* * *

><p><strong>4. Winter<strong>

Curiosity took the better of him as he opened the door of the shaking closet. A cloaked hooded creature slided from the closet slowly and he felt all happiness drowned out of him. He backed to the wall and let out a horrific shrieck.

His father, followed by his mother, ran in and shouted something about the creature a good right hook at him. Hestia who followed his parents, simply pushed him aside, with her wand drawn and started saying: "Exp…"

But with a loud crack the hooded creature changed into dead bodies of people Dudley mostly did not know and finally at last it changed into dead Dedalus.

Ignoring the Dursley´s screams, Hestia muttered: "Oh, for Merlin´s sake, not a bloody boggart."

She raised her wand, pointed it at the body and shouted "Riddikulus" and she left out a dry laugh as the dead body started dancing around with a large purple hat on its head and with a final crack it disappeared.

* * *

><p><strong>5. New Hope<strong>

A loud bang on the door disrupted the unpleasant silence of the small kitchen at the safe house that the Dursley family had been hiding in. The stillness was preceded by a storm as Vernon and Petunia Dursley had once again been offending the wizarding world. And Hestia Jones was not a witch that would take something like that calmly.

Dudley watched as both Hestia and Dedalus stood before the door, both wands drawn, shadows of worry creeping into their faces. Dedalus gave her a small nod and she asked loudly: "Who´s there?"

"It is I, Remus John Lupin, a werewolf, married to Nymphadora Tonks, an auror, who hates being called by her first name and you gave me the secret location of this place in case something happened the day after Mad-Eye was killed."

Dedalus gave a sigh of relief as he slowly opened the door, but Dudley was astonished to see that the shadows of worry did not completely leave his nor Hestia´s face. A sudden realization crept upon him- it was war, which meant that the news that a person came bearing were most likely not to be good.

But when Lupin came inside, Dudley could see that while his face was still lined and scarred and his hair was flecked with gray, he was smiling and it seemed as if some sort of a new life energy had taken over him. He only vaguely resembled the hunted man that Dudley had caught a glimpse of a few months earlier.

Lupin looked from Hestia to Dedalus merrily, ignoring the annoyed shouting of Vernon Dursley and his wife and told them: "Dora´s had the baby last week. It´s a boy, we named him Ted after her father. I´m sorry I couldn´t have come earlier, but it was too dangerous. I thought you could do with some good news for a change though. I brought some pictures too."

As Lupin passed a copy of the photographs that he had been clutching in his hand to Dedalus and Hestia both, Dudley caught a glimpse of a chubby baby with sandy brown hair, waving his fist at the camera.

"We have to celebrate this," exclaimed Dedalus as Hestia cooed over the picture and with a wave of his wand he conjured six glasses and poured each of them full with some kind of alcohol, unknown to Dudley. As the wizard offered two of them to Vernon and Petunia they both took a step back further to the wall with Vernon spitting something about bloody freaks. But Dudley took his glass despite the warning look his father was shooting him.

"To Ted Remus Lupin, a great wizard in making," said Lupin as he raised his glass.

"I´m sure he will be," commented Dedalus before gulping his glass down in one.

When Dudley looked down at the table, he caught another glimpse of the pictures, but to his astonishments there was something really weird about them, not only was the picture moving, but the baby´s hair…

"But he´s hair was brown just now…and it…it´s turquoise now!" he shouted.

"Remarkable, remarkable," muttered Dedalus.

"It really is, I didn´t know one could inherit…," Hestia added.

"We didn´t know it was possible either. But it´s true, little Teddy is a metamorphomagus just like his mom. A metamorphomagus is a person who can change their appearance at will," he explained kindly, turning to Teddy.

"I should get going, Dora might think…," he started.

"Oh, Merlin, of course, I didn´t realize it has gotten so late," Dedalus squealed.

"Keep safe, all of you," Dudley could Hestia whisper into Lupin´s ear as she gave him one last hug before he disappeared.

Dudley noticed that for a while after this visit Hestia was glowing, it seemed to have lifted up her spirits. Earlier despair was eating away at her and every small remark from Vernon or Petunia would make her explode with new waves of furry. But now she just pursed her lips, after all maybe there still was some hope left after all. A hope that little Teddy Lupin would grow up in a better world.

* * *

><p><strong>6. Uprising<strong>

Dudley walked into the kitchen of the safe house to find both Dedalus and Hestia huddled over the small radio, listening to the excited voice of Lee Jordan repeating the same words over and over again:

"_The Order of the Phoenix has just received breaking news from Dumbledore´s Army. The hour of the final fight has finally come! Harry Potter´s at Hogwarts! We urge you to take your wands and stand up! The time of hiding is past, we will fight at last!"_

"We have to go, Hestia! They´ll need our help," Dedalus exclaimed as excited as usual.

Only now did Hestia notice the presence of the whale of a boy in the kitchen. "We can´t, Dedalus. We have to stay here and protect the muggles in case something were to happen…This isn´t out battle to fight," she sighed. Dudley could hear the bitterness in her voice and had the sudden feeling that he was trying to convince herself just as she was trying to convince Dedalus. She didn´t like the idea of staying put here with Dudley and his family instead of fighting for what she believed in anymore than her companion did.

"Maybe, if just one of us…," Dedalus started.

Hestia seemed to be contemplating this idea for a while, but then she glanced at Dudley and shook her head.

"No, Dedalus. We´ve been given our own mission and we have to finish it. After all we promised to help _any way_ we could when we joined the Order, didn´t we? We just weren´t meant to play heroes in this one…"

Dedalus had no answer to this, but Dudley still could see a bit of resilience taking over his features.

"Bloody stubborn Gryffindors…," he heard Hestia mutter angrily as she turned away to prepare some food for them to eat.

For the Dursleys the day of the Final Battle would be like any other.

* * *

><p><strong>7. Remembrance<strong>

Dudley was startled to find Hestia alone in the kitchen, crying silently, holding a piece of newspaper with dozens of photographs.

It had been a week since they had gotten the news of Voldemort´s fall. To the dismay of the Dursleys they had to stay in hiding for a little while longer, as there still was a small possibilty of danger from the last ones of his true supporters.

"Are you okay?" Dudley was almost as surprised by his words as the witch, but it seemed like the natural thing to do.

She sniffled and smiled a small smile: "Yes. Yes, of course I´m okay. More than okay, I mean You-Know-Who is gone at last. It´s just...so many people dead. So many good people...I mean take little Teddy Lupin for example, both his parents...and grandfather..."

She put the newspaper away and Dudley could now read the title- The Heroes of the 2nd Great Wizarding World and there were dozens and dozens of photographs of people smiling and waving. Dudley suddenly felt cold creeping in him when he realized that all these people were dead now. Dead in a war that most people did not even know had been going on.

He came closer to Hestia and gave her a clumsy hug.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Blimey, maybe Harry was right and the dementors had blown a completely different personality into him after all.


End file.
